Another eco-artist for this month is Leopold Blaschka, a master glass artist. In the spring of 1853 Leopold traveled from Germany to the United States. The trade winds died and stranded the boat off the coast of Azores for 2 weeks. To fill the time, Leopold began studying, sketching and admiring the transparence and colorfulness of the local invertebrates. Ten years later, back in Dresden, he created a moderate business of making lab equipment and specialty glass-work items; however, it would be his hobby of blowing glass flowers as accurately as a botanist’s drawing that drew the attention of Prince de Rohan and five years later to Professor Ludwig Reichenbrach. With their support, he and later his son began a lucrative business for creating mail ordered ocean specimens that he drew in that fated trip.
Many of his works are exhibited at the Cornell Museum now. A Cornell professor, Drew Harvell, is taking this collection of 700 invertebrates and searching for the actual animals to match the art to see if they have changed. She has found that now some of them are endangered. You can see this amazing story with the documentary Fragile Legacy or read her book Sea of Glass. He and his son also did a collection of botanically accurate flowers, The Glass Flowers of Harvard, exclusively for Harvard University. I highly recommend seeing any of these amazingly intricate studies in glass.
P.S. Remember signs with an * it a big week for you.
Aries
Two of Wands – Last week, the Moon’s reflective light revealed the fact or fantasy of your fears, and helped you finesses navigating by your intuition and feelings without letting them overwhelm you. This enlightenment on one’s fantasy and fears should have readied you for the action of the Two of Wands this week. For this week is the time to strike out on your own and discover some new places and people. This week expand your world and don’t let last week’s fear stop you.
Taurus
Eight of Coins – This is your second eight so let’s look at 8s for a sec. Eights are the cards of expansion and contraction. The Eight of Cups last week had you contracting by doing some spring cleaning. The Eight of Coins wants you to expand by growing your skills. This week is all about work, but it isn’t all about how hard you work. It is about using your skill-set to work smart. This combination of cleaning and efficacy should give you a sense of accomplishment by the end of week.
Gemini
Knight of Coins – The Knight of Coins is all about pace and persistence. If you go to slow you will miss an opportunity but if you go too fast you will miss the details. This week slow and steady wins the race.
Cancer
King of Wands – The King of Wands is about spirituality, passion and creativity. He wants you to understand and work with not only parts of yourself but your destiny that ignites it. This life is to be lived with gusto, so do something every day this week to kindle your spirit, passion and creativity and it will lead you to a brighter destiny.
Leo
Ace of Cups – Ace of Cups foretells new beginnings or insights in relationships. This week spend some time with someone new or reignite an old relationship. This can be with our love partners, but it also is just about spreading love to any living thing – earth, plants, animals and humans. Because ultimately –Love is all there is.
Virgo
*Temperance – Double whammy weeks, last week the Hierophant advised you to work on structures and efficiency. Then Temperance doubles down reminding you that structure is great but does not last without balance and moderation. So, with your work there must be play. With your happiness there is also sadness. With hatred is love. The challenge is how to do the balancing. Not as reactive equilibrium act – falling to one side and rebalancing the other in a teeter-totter fashion – but as a proactive act of accepting the paradoxes and mixing a new cocktail. Think if it like cooking without salt but getting the satisfaction of saltiness by using a mixture of spices and herbs.
Libra
Five of Coins – The Five of Coins is the card of loss, despair or loneliness. No joke this can be a hard week with mishaps and misdirection; however, the lesson with this card is realizing you are not only resilient but also not alone. Your challenge is asking for help. No shame, this is not only beneficial to you but a way for the people around you helping someone who has helped them.
Scorpio
*Chariot – The Chariot gives you energy to do some moving and shaking of your own this week. Take this time to do activities that will move you closer to your goals. The only challenge with the Chariot is all movement is up to you this week. It’s not exactly that you must do this solo, but it is essential you do all the driving.
Sagittarius
Page of Swords – The Page of Swords is the card of the investigator and hidden information. There are clues and messages you need, but you will be required digging for them this week. Ask lots of questions, read between the lines, digger deeper, keep your ears, eyes and mind open.
Capricorn
Nine of Swords – The Nine of Swords is the card of worry and over-thinking. This card makes sense with the past two weeks of heavy lifting in your mind. The challenge and work with this card are finding ways to turn off the mind by giving it a break or diverting it with playful thoughts. You can do this with a bout of binge-watching TV (no commercials), escape into a good book, day dreaming, or meditating to quiet the monkey mind.
Aquarius
*Judgement – Judgment is the card of evolution. It is time to shed your skin, molt your feathers, or wrap up in a cocoon. The shift of your paradigm has happened. The question is: have you evolved to survive in it a healthier way than the previous phase of your life? If not take this week to be tender with yourself, you are still in your soft-shell phase of your evolution. Take this week to harden your shell/skin, grow in your feathers, grow your wings. The only thing you should be doing this week is figure out what you need to grow/obtain in this new phase.
Pisces
*High Priestess and Ten of Swords – The High Priestess is here to help with the Ten of Swords. The Ten of Swords is the card that foretells that the World can be a triggering place. One reason we get trigger is we let our reactive ego do the driving instead of more kind conscious mind. The High Priestess steps in with her cool thoughts sitting on her lofty seat seeing the bigger pictures and cycles. She challenges you to stand back from the World and not react – just watch. You will find that observation and not confrontation will bring you more enlightenment in situations this week.
May light be on you, around you, and within you,
Nina
*Moon – The Moon card comes to light when you need to investigate the darker parts of your subconscious – lighting a fear. This anxiety or fear can be grounded in truth, and the Moon’s reflective light reveals the fact or fantasy of it. This can look as simple as if you are walking down the street and get a hint that someone is following you, don’t blow it off. Walk with courage to a well lite area with people, say Hi to someone and then turn around. Or a more complex situation of confronting an anxiety and dissecting it to see if it is based in reality. In both scenario your intuition and feelings are something to listen to but not let them overwhelm you.
Eight of Cups – The Eight of Cups is the spring-cleaning card. This card can literally mean you need to do some spring cleaning in your home or metaphorically any area of your life. Open the windows air, out your linens, and vacuum the dust bunnies from under your bed. There is a witchy ritual where you sweep out your front door sweep out the bad vibes. If you don’t have a broom to do that then at least clean out the bag/canister in your vacuum cleaner.
Five of Wands – Second five in a row, so let’s dive into the meaning of five. Fives are the cards of chaos where the chaos brings out things that are hidden or things that can sweep us away. Last week the chaos had you uncovering the positive and negatives in your life and asking you to choose the positive perspective. This week the Five of Wands looks at the chaotic energy you allow in from others. You have a choice whether to play in the chaos or simple turn around and walk away. The challenge with either choice is not getting swept up into or trigger by the drama of others.
Ten of Cups – The Ten of Cups is the rainbow card. It advises us to celebrate even after a storm. The challenge is seeing that happiness is not the absence of pain. Pain can co-exist with happiness without canceling it out.
Page of Cups – Time to pull out your rose-colored glasses. The Page of Cups advises you that this week no matter what happens to find the silver lining and the rainbow. You need an injection of naivety, play and an innocent perspective, even though that grumpy lion-ic side wants to roar. This week it’s all about your inner cub.
*Hierophant – This is card that Virgo feels comfortable in as long as you don’t get to self-critical. The Hierophant advise you to work on structures and efficiency this week. This can look as simple as oiling the door hinge that squeaks. Or as complex as fixing your money or schedule so that you are no longer broke at the end of the month or too tired at the end of the week.
Three of Wands – The Three of Wands advise you to do some planning before diving into projects this week. The best use of this time is focusing on how to make the work run smoothly. Think of yourself as the guy on the tarmac that guides the plane into the gate. The challenge is having foresight and peripheral vision for things to line up.
Two of Pentacles – Juggling is the name of the game this week with the Two of Pentacles. The challenge with this card is getting too brash. Make sure you start out simple and have two items/things/people on your plate and once you do that well then you can add another “ball” to the mix. This week a misstep can be a mishap.
Seven of Coins – The Seven of Coins is the worker bee card. This week’s energy is best used working your butt off. All the things you do and partake in this week fertilize and grow your productivity for the coming summer months. This is a week to start projects/plant seeds, weed projects in progress, exchange seeds, direct people in helping to tend the garden, water relationships, etc… Use this gardening metaphor to the fullest so you can harvest in the Fall.
Queen of Swords – Last week the Hierophant and Eight of Wands had some spiritual messages having you create a deeper meaning and structure to your life. Lucky for you the Queen of Swords is helping you with another week of this esoteric challenge. She is the card of critical thinking. So, take this week to do some Socratic questioning on the concepts of meaning itself to help complete the blueprint of the structures that you need.
Six of Swords – Last week, the Justice card said all things are just and fair, but it may take a while to see it play out. Justice challenged you to see the truth in situations and yourself without the lens of emotion. Reminding you that you can’t control every aspect of this life and by letting go of some of the control you let Justice takes its course justly. This concept still rings true this week. The only added advice that the Six of Swords is giving is to “let go” you need to simplify your life. Also, this card reminds you if you are stuck in how to do that, water either its rhythm or water itself can help you realize where and what to pare down.
Eight of Coins –The Eight of Coins is the card of mastery. You challenge is to use this energy to up your game at how you make money. Whether that is learning a new skill, honing an old skill, networking, refreshing your website/LinkedIn page, etc.., it is all business this week.
This week’s artist is 
*Lovers – The Lovers show up to remind you about one of the most important pieces of being human – connection. How you connect and who you connect with this week becomes very important to figuring out what direction to take in the coming months. A simple example is choosing wisely about who you talk with and what you talk about at the water cooler, for the relationship there create your work environment. A complex example is taking that idea home with who you choosing as your partner. If it is not a supportive relationship, why are you in it? And if it is supportive – reward it.
King of Coins – The King of Coins comes when you need to look at how you make you money. Is it satisfying? Do you feel supported? Are you making enough to make ends meet? Then in answering these questions you will either be celebrating and imbuing in your accomplishments or begin making to-do lists that will create “yes” answers.
Queen of Cups – The Queen of Cups challenges your life – wanting it to flow freer. This week celebrating the joys both big and small. Have some fun, hang with friends, have a beverage for the joy of it – think root-beer floats or champagne. Being in water will help remind you of your joys if you are stuck.
King of Cups – The King of Cups ask you to get in touch with your emotions this week, especially when they deal with your environment. Your emotions ae clues how to handle situations. For example, if you thrilled to talk to someone then do so, if you are not then don’t feel obligated. The challenge is not to go inward with your emotions but interact outward.
Eight of Cups – Time for some house-cleaning this week. Not only should you be doing in your environment but also in the internal dialogue and emotional swings you have. Take “items” out of the closet/dark, dust them off, see if you still need them and if not toss it. Your only challenge is this may not until the weekend, but don’t forget to do it.
*Hierophant – This is a great week to work with structures and systems. The Hierophant challenges you to create structures for yourself to find ways to work smoothly within in your control and to learn from structures you have no control over (like education, government etc..). This can look as simple as going over your schedule and to-do list to shift and reprioritize. Or as complex as, you are having a sit down with a boss or co-worker and come up with a new plan that can work for the betterment of all. Also, for lifelong learners this means going back for a course, class or book you know will help you obtain your goals.
*Fool – Last week, the Empress wanted you to reconnect with the person who was the most motherly to you and then cultivate those “motherly” qualities in yourself. Now the Fool shows up and has two challenges for you this week: 1) Don’t take that task too seriously. Don’t forgot not only do good mothers nurture, but they also play. 2) Take the “motherly” you on the road. This can look as simple as visiting a friend for a drink and vent session or taking your child to a skate park and you both skate(board).
Nine of Pentacles – The Nine of Pentacles declares this is a great week for getting your work done and enjoying it. This card helps you hone your flow, but to get the most out of it you should hole yourself up. It is not that you can’t work with others, you should just be very choosy when you do so.
Three of Pentacles – Second three in a row so let’s look at the number three for a second. Threes have us ground ourselves in the present but with our sights towards the future. Last week the Three of Swords ask you to be honest with your emotional thinking. And this week the Three of Pentacles have you working within the material plane. So, questions like, where am I will drive a stake into the present for grounding and questions like where I am going with my work need to be pondered and sketched out towards the future. This card also reminds you for this week that working with others cuts your work load and increases output.
Queen of Coins – Last week, the Tower card came to remind you to that something needs to be fixed that you have been putting off. The Queen of Coins continues this theme of mending and fixing. So, if you didn’t do it last week get it done. However, she also challenges you, once it is finished, finding time to sit back and enjoy some delights from the material plane.
Ace of Wands – This is your last card of your birth month and what a great one. The Ace of Wands is the card of beginnings that light your passion. Remember your main birth year card is the Devil (
Four of Cups – The Four of Cups, another week where your emotions take the forefront. This week the Four of Cups advises taking time pondering yourself, and here is the challenge also pondering your place in the world. You hold many of the keys this week, but one is beyond your everyday personal space. So, take a moment not only to look in but also to look out.
Six of Coins – The Six of Coins is the mini karma card. Be aware that especially this week that your interactions with others and your environment will ripple out and come back to you three-fold. So, the nicer and more caring you are for the environment and people around you, the more positive the world will be towards you. The challenge -this of course also works with negative energy.
Eight of Coins – This is your second eight in a row so let’s just check into the meaning of eights. Eights are the cards that challenge improving and releasing. Last week the cups ask you to release; this week the Coins ask you to improve. The Eight of Coins advises honing the skill of getting into the zone, whether that is at work or play – trying for mastery is the key. The challenge perfection is unobtainable.
Ace of Swords –It is a great week to be the philosopher and ponder on the bigger questions in life. Your challenge is for your mind to think in ways it hasn’t thought before. Also, if you have been holding off on a decision, this is the time to make it.
*Empress – The Empress is the card of growth and mothering. This card wants for you all to reconnect with the person that was the most motherly to you – even in spirit if they no longer reside on this plane. The challenge, however, is finding and cultivating those “motherly” qualities in yourself. Not only for providing support and compassion for others but also giving you an internal source to dip into when you need it.
Three of Swords – The Three of Swords ask you to be honest with your emotional thinking. This card asks you to let go of some thought patterns that are not working. The challenge is sitting with that emptiness – not fill it back up with another thought or emotion- so your mind and heart can heal.
*Tower – The Tower is the card of destruction from an outside force that make you start anew. This card comes up when something needs to be fixed that you have been putting off. The best way to head off a possible catastrophe is to fix the problem. This can be as simple as fixing that door handle that keeps falling off, scheduling in some “me time” so you don’t burn out, or as complex as have that hard talk with a love one before frustration burns down the house.
Nine of Swords – The Nine of Swords is the card of excess thinking and worry. The challenge with this card is to figure out which worries you can fix and put them on a to-do list (out of your head-space) and the rest to put on a list and flush them (you can literally flush then if you put them on TP). Another exercise is when a worry comes up replace it with a song or image that makes you smile or even better laugh. The point being making more room for quiet contemplation instead of yammering worries.
Ace of Cups – The Ace of Cups calls for you to create and spread love and joy. This card reminds you that positive emotions need to be your “go to” this week even if someone pokes you to get a rise. Your mottos: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, and Love conquers all.
Two of Cups – The Two of Cups foretells that love is in the air. This week your focus should be on intimacy in the relationships you hold dear or creating new ones. Time for candlelight diners and walks on the beach. The challenge is knowing your truth and sharing it.
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